Typewriter marginator



Aug. 23, 1932. n 1 c. OLIVETTI 1,873,661

TYPEWRITER MARGINATOR Filed July 9, 1931 Patented Aug. 23, 1932 PATENT OFFICE OAHIIISO OLIVETTI, OI IVBEA, ITALY mEWBITEB KABGINA'IOB -.Applic ation filed July a, msnseriai no.

Object of this invention is an improved automatic marginator for the carriage of a typewriter, removing certain drawbacks which such devices usually ofl'er in their p eration.

The so called automatic marginators can be shifted from the position they are in and carried in another desired position, by simply moving the carriage and without acting d1- rectly on them. They prove to be very convenient in open carriage typewriters, in which all the members cooperating in fixing the stop position of the carriage, as marginators in column setters and tabulators, are placed, relatively to the typer, at the back of the sheet on which he is writing and consequently cannot be operated otherwise than by moving said sheet and its metal plate support.

I Usually, marginators of this kind, consist in two small blocks, shiftable along a guiderod on which they can be fixed and on striln'ng against a stop projecting from the carriage, they limit' the travel of said carriage.

The setting into position is obtained by engaging certain teeth carried by the marginator block with a rack from which they are disengaged when on the contrary it is desired to move to a new position.

It may happen, however, that-having moved he block along its guide, it stops in such a position that its teeth cannot correspond exactly with the spaces between the raeks teeth and in such a'case, notwithstanding the teeth g being properly tapered, the meshing cannot take place and so the block, not being securely fixed, may move on first striking against the stop. 4 p

Besides, as the operation of setting 'free the marginator blocks from the rack designed for holding them, acts on both blocks simultaneously, it may happen that whilst the operator acts on one block for moving it to the desired position, the other block, entirely free to move on its guide, shifts by accident away from its own position. To prevent this, the'movement of the block should be braked, what is necessary to bring about a positive connection of the block to a member outside'the car 3 riage, when on operating in the manner de- 549,758, and in Italy February 4, 1931.

scribed hereafter, it is desired to move on in a new position said block.

The system to which the present invention relates, is designed to remove the above specified drawbacks, by always compelling the marginator block to stop in a position proper for obtaining the meshing of the teeth and by preventing undesired movements when said block is disengaged from the rack.

In the accompanying drawing v Figure 1 shows a cross section of the marginators in normal position.

Figure 2 shows asection of the marginators in the position in which they can move along their 'de.

Figure 3 s ows a view of the same from the back of the typewriter.

Figure 4 shows a detail of the device which, after a move, causes the marginator blocks to stop in the correct position for meshing the teeth and prevents false moves.

-In Figures 1, 2 the marginator-blocks are carried on a guide formed by two rods 3 and 4 rigidly connected one to another by the end 4 pieces 5 and 6. Rod 3, conveniently extended, can be made to rotate in two bearings 7 and 8 carried by the sides of the carriage, by acting on lever 9. The marginator blocks carry a,

few teeth 10 and 10' which in normal position mesh with the teeth of a rack 11 rigidly fixed to the sides of the carriage and consequently prevent the blocks from moving on their The blocks 1 and 2 carry each a projection 14 respectively 14', whose object is to strike against a stop 20, fixed at a point outside the carriage and causing the latter to stop: said blocks carry also two hooked levers 12 and 12' whichare inactive when the system is in normal position, but can, on the contrary, strike against the outside stop 20 when the guide of the blocks has been rotated by lever 9, thus setting the blocks free from their enga ement with rack 11. In such a condition the ooked lever 12 on striking against stop 20 when the carrlage moves, engages with its hook said stop 20, thus fixing the block to a point outslde said carriage. Once this position attained, if lever 9 is further operated and the carriage 1s again moved on, the. marginator block remains motionless relatively to the moving carriage and thus can reach any de sired position relatively to said carriage. On releasing lever 9, the guide rod of the. blocks rotates in the direction contrary to the preceding and hooked lever 1212 disengages from stop 20: meanwhile .eeth 10 and 10' mesh again with the rack making blocks 1 and 2 solid again with the carriage.

It is precisely this last operation which may take place irregularly, because, evidently, after having moved the carriage, the marginator blocks having engaged the fixed outside stop 20, may stop indifferently with its teeth 10 in any position whatever relatively to the rack, so that it may occur either that teeth 10' come exactly in correspondence with the spaces of the rack or that they come instead in correspondence with the teeth of the rack. Whilst in the first case the meshing follows immediately, in the second it cannot take place even if the teeth are tapered to invite meshing. To avoid this inconvenience, an elastic strip 16-16, arranged so that its free end corresponds with the teeth of rack 11, is fixed to the marginator blocks: said free end is provided with a small knob 17 hearing with a certain pressure on the-racks teeth so as to try and engage between the same, as v soon as, by acting on lever 9, the guide rod of the marginators motion is rotated in the direction of the arrow marked in Fig. 1, arriv ing at the position shown in Fig. 2 and movingkthe teeth 10 out of engagement of the mo In the shift-movement of the marginator on the guide, knob 17 jumps from space to space of the teeth, thus compelling the block of said marginator to move on by steps and to always stop when the knob is inserted between two teeth of the rack, which position corresponds of course to the one allowing a perfect meshing of teeth 10 of the marginator block with the rack, said meshing being made easier by a proper taper form of the teeth of the rack and of the marginators block.

The pressure exerted by the elastic strip 16 on rack 11 through knob 17, is a very eflicient brake, not subject to variations in its action, preventing any undesired movement of the marginator block along its guide in the period in which its teeth are disengaged from rack 11 and making easier and surer the hooking of lever 12 to stop 20. In fact, if the marglnators were not braked in their motion along the guide, the effort required for hooking the lever 12 could suffice to shift them and they would require to be moved to the end of their travel in order to obtain the hooking.

The solution described above is given merely as an example, as its achievement requires simply a member fixed to the marginator block with alink, rigid in its longitudinal direction and carrying an elastic knob or lamina or the like, capable of jumping elastically from one tooth of the rack to the next.

What I claim is:

1. In a system of typewriter marginators of the so called automatic pattern, a device for stopping the marginator blocks on moving the same along their guide in a position 'proper to allow the regular operation of the member for fixing them to said guide, said device being also designed for braking the free shifting of said blocks on said guide so as to prevent any undesired motion: a yielding knob or any like member, rigidly bound to said marginator block in the longitudinal direction; a rack on which the marginator is usually fixed, over whose teeth said knob is capable of running, being pressed elastically on said teeth so as to spring from one tooth space to the next and to stop always in the space between two teeth.

2. In a system of type-writer marginators of the so called automatic pattern, a device for stopping the marginator blocks on moving the same along their guide, in a position proper to allow the regular operation of the member for fixing them to said guide, said device being also designed for braking the free shifting of said blocks on said guide so as to prevent any undesired motion: a yielding knob or any like member, rigidly bound to said marginator block in the longitudinal direction; a rack on which the marginator is usually fixed, over whose teeth said knob is capable of running, being pressed elastically on said teeth so as to spring from one tooth space to the next and to stop always in the .space between two teeth, said runner being formed by an elastic lamina or strip fixed upon the block and whose free end, provided with a proper projection, runs with a proper pressure over the teeth of the rack on which said marginators blocks are to be fixed, when the same are moved along it, said projection inserting in the teeth spaces thus compelling the device to move on step by step, by jumps from one tooth to the next.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

CAMILLO OLIVETTI. 

